<a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1114541">Thomas makes defense his calling card</a> Didn't take too long for Feigen to notice Kenny's defense and to write an article about it. Rudy and Kenny have several quotes. Nice read. Take particular notice to Rudy's explanation of guarding star PFs. He says that we always look at whether they beat us the way we want them to beat us. In Shareef's case, most of his makes were outside jumpers. I'd say, that is what we'd rather have him do. Shoot over K9 from ten feet or further out all you want, but if he denies you low post position and denies you driving by him and denies you the ball as much as possible, he has done all we can expect anyone to do against a star. Well done, K9. Getting some notice. He definitely is a competitor who believes in himself. imo, there is no reason why Thomas's defensive won't end up being every bit as good as Rick Fox...and he is stronger and faster. He might end up being more verstatile...able to cover SFs and PFs.
Originally posted by crispee Yep, that's true of guarding any great player. You can't stop them, so limit the damage. I didn't mind KT giving up 28 to SAR at all, but the 18 boards worried me. By way of contrast, the Spurs did a miserable job on Kobe in the playoffs, because he was shredding the D and getting so many layups and dunks. That's not just two points, it affects both teams' morale and puts immense pressure on the other team to score when you're getting easy buckets like that. Same with the many good 4s in the West. If Rasheed gets 30 on us, I can live with that -- as long as they're not post ups, layups, etc. Same with Cato vs. Shaq. If Shaq scores 40 on 12' jump hooks, well, whatcha gonna do? You got beat by a great player. But if he scores 40 on layups and dunks, you played bad D. Good defense isn't shutting the other player down, it's making him do what he doesn't want to do. In many cases, with a lesser player, that does shut them down. But for a great player like SAR, Shaq, etc., it just limits the damage.
With all these potential stars, how are we going to pay them all. Actually, I like KT. He has the sweetest moves for almost any low post player I've seen. He just needs to learn how to finish. I think that will come.
It's not like Feigen actually took note of KT's defense, and decided to go get quotes on it. More than likely players and coaches were talking about KT's defense, and Feigen decided to write an article on it. KT was able to do a good job on Rahim because Rahim is not a power player. He's more of a 3/4 combo player, just like KT. Normally Rahim would have a quickness advantage, but not this time. KT was able to move his feet and stay in front of him. Rahim typically doesn't overpower his opponents, so that works in KT's favor. KT can better guard guys like that -- I saw him able to stay in front of Nowitski as well last year, another player that relies more on quickness. I would venture to guess that most of the power forwards in the league rely more on size and strength, which is why KT usually isn't a good match most nights.
TheFreak, Did you notice K9's defense? I think Feigen did, too. He doesn't get that many quotes from Kenny without coming up with a theme for an article first, and going with it. But yeah, you're right. A lot of quotes mentioned it after the game, so Feigen could have just noticed that too. Anyhow, enough with detracting from the main point of the articles. I certainly agree that a defender could be better with some PF types and not others. Hell, if K9 gets into early foul trouble, he could even have a bad seive night, worrying about another foul, because he definitely can't rely on using height to make up for mistakes. K9 has to go mistake free to be effective. btw: did you really notice Kenny staying in front of Nitwitz? That is actually what impresses me the most is his ability to remain in front of relatively fast guys like Dirk and SAR. I have seen him stand his ground in the block, too. I don't really recall big guys dislodging him on a regulary basis. That also surprised me. Duncan definitely took notice in that game mentioned. I recall other quotes from Duncan that night. K9 has been solid for awhile, imo. What he won't do is win any awards for defense? We will see him get beat; we will see him get posterized; but what we won't see is him get intimidated. That's fine with me as long as he makes them work hard for their points, and stop them much more than he gets abused. What more can you ask from a tweener. I just ask that people watch him--his lateral movement, ability to stand his ground, and limit the amount of times the star PFs get easy buckets. Right now, Griffin is a tweener, too. Griffin has the potential to be a 1st Team All NBA defender, but he cannot hold his ground against power, right now. Griffin will get there, and I'm looking forward to K9 improving right along with him.
So, that post was preseason. Was that Dallas game a preseason game, or were you talking about something the year before. I think I do remember that play. And you might be right that it was Finley mismatched on KT, not Nitwitz.
Aren't you setting the bar really low here? I can take Rick Fox off the dribble and I am an old fart The best thing you can say about RF's D is that he does get into passing lanes.
You know, I don't really know when the heck that was supposed to be from. I thought he did that last year during the season...looking at the date of the thread, now I don't know (puzzled face).
